Sign-illuminator.



W. HARRIS.

SIGN ILLUMINATOR.

nrmomion Hun MAR. so, 1912;.

Patented ,Sept. '16, 1913.

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WILLIAM HARRIS, 0F NEWARK, NEW JERSEY.

' SIG-N-ILLUMINATGR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 16, 1913.

Application filed March 30, 1912. Serial No. 687,480.

To all whom it may concern:

' Be it known that I, WILLIAM HARRIS, a citizen of the United States, residing at N o. 597 Clinton avenue, Newark, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, have inand useful Improvements in Signrllluminators, of which the following is a specification.

.This invention relates to improvements in sign-displaying means, and more specifically to means for illuminating the identification number of a self-propelled vehicle.

One of the objects of my invention consists in! providing simple-inexpensive, and efiicient means for causing the identification number a self-propelled or motor vehicle to be legible at night as well as by day, so that in the event of accident at night the vehicle in question can be easily identified by its mun ber.

A further object of my invention consists in providing a lamp box for a motor vehicle designed so as to utilize reflected light for i the purpose of illuminating only the sightwhich solely .view of my invention,

openings for light-transmitting characters or numbers-with which said casing is provided. This is the leading feature of my invention and is conducive to the-attainment of marked simplicity in construction and efliciency in operation of the device because the .reflected rays of light will be caused to play directly upon the entire lighttransmitting surfaces of the characters by fiedat night as well as by day. The characters exposed to the reflected rays of light will shine with a more intense luminosity than has been possible with previous structures owing to the arrangement of the refleeting surfaces, and the inevitable result is a concentration of strong rays of light uniformly over the sign composed of the light transmitting characters,

With the above and other objects in view my invention consists in the combination, arrangement, and details of construction disclosed in the drawings and description, and then more particularly pointed out in vthe appended claims. 1 'In the drawings Figure 1 is a top plan with-the top of the lamp box conveniently removed, Fig. 2 is a detail view of a modified mirror-carrying blockto be described, Fig. 3 is a front elevation of the lamp box, Fig. 4 isa transverse sectional view of my the motor vehicle can be identi-' a suitable support.

111g said mirrors.

invention taken on the- Fig. 1, one of the lamp-supporting straps being removed, Fig. his a deail top plan view partly in section of the lamp supporting means and combined catch, Fig. 6 is a detail view of the catch mecha nism including its support and the cooperah ing element carried by the lamp to be secured in position, and Fig. 7 is a face elevation of the plate slotted to form a sign character. Fig. 8 is a view in perspective of a mirror taken on the line yy and g y of Fig. 1.

Similar reference characters designate similarparts Whereverfound on the drawings.

Referring to the drawings, which are merely illustrative of my invention, a casing A is composed of a top 1, bottom 2, back 3, sides 3 at 5 so as to be movable to open position, the part 4 being held. closed by any suitable catch such as the spring catch 6. Secured preferably in horizontal alinementat the inner surface of the front part 4 of casing line XX of A are a plurality of guide members 7 each being composed of opposed grooved pieces 8 and 8 and a grooved bottom 9. S-lidably disposed in said guide members and resting on the grooved bottoms thereof are glass plates 10 disposed face to face against rigid plates 11 formed with slots as at 12 taking the configuration of sign characters, said glass plates ings 13 formed in thehingecl front part 4 and said rigid plates 11. These slides constitute but one contemplated form of the means for causing the light-transmitting sign characters to be interchangeably mounted upon .For all practical purposes the front part 4 constitutes one of two oppositely-arranged members, the other member being shown as the back 3 of easing A and having secured thereupon by suitable means a horizontally-extending block consisting of mirrors V-shaped in, cross-section 14 and preferably wooden pieces 15 surround- In Fig. 1 both themirrors 14 and pieces 15 may be advantageously cemented to the wa11-3 of easing A, but .a wooden block 16, shown in Fig.2, maybe secured to said wall, having suitable sockets 17 in which are snugly fitted and cemented the mirrors V-shaped'in cross-section. The mirrors 14 are of suitable size and are horizontally behind the sight-openings 13 of casing A, said mirrors being inclined from 10 overlying both the sight-openthevertical and sloping upwardly as at 13 so as to catch the rays of light focused upon them by the light source 19 at'the desired angles to reflect the same in directions which will insure that the reprojected rays fall upon the light-transmitting characters formed conjoint-1y by the plates and 11.

The light source may consist of a lamp,

, lantern, electric light or any other suitable source. oflight, provision being made for focusing theraysof light in a direction op- 21 and 22 so as to be spaced from all the j walls of casing A, and so as to occupy a position in a lower plane than the guide members 7 and mirrors 14. The straps 21 and 22 have offsets 23 riveted upon wall 3 of the casing A and, the straps pro ect outwardly in converging relation therefrom, being formed at their free ends with oppo sitely-inclined tapering beveled recesses designated 24 and 24: respectively, said recesses sloping from. narrow at their rear planes to wide at their front planes, the configurationof said recesses being-such that the correspondingly-shaped lugs 25 and 25 mounted uponthe lantern may slide-readily in said recesses to be wedged thereinto as the lan- -tern is moved forwardly. The lantern 19 has secured to its front a forwardly projecting stud ,or member 26 terminating in an 7 arrow head 27 which is arranged to snap between the oppositely-arranged spring bars 28 and 28 which together are V-shaped in contour and toucheach other at their free ends so asto require some force to be exerted by the lamp attendant desirous of forcing them asunder. One of said spring arms, 28' is fixedly secured upon the strap 22 by an offset 23, while the other passes through a relatively thin slot 29 in strap 21. and is held in proper position relatively to its, mate by means both of the head 30 formed at one of its ends and the cotter )in 31 inserted through it at the inner sur ace of strap 21, the head restraining displacemerit in 'one direction and the cotter pin in another,-said cotter pin 31 being removable to cause the spring arm2S to be slidable out of its slot so that thearrow-head 27 may become disengaged and move backward, when it is desired to remove the lantern. The lantern is not completely wedged home until the arrow-head protrudes forwardly of the spring-arms.

- The principle involved in the operation-of being made my lamp box is simple.v The angle of incidence of rays of light and the angle of reflection are always equal. The object in view is to adapt the angle of inclination of.

the reflecting mirrors in my device to its function of reprqectmg the rays thrown upon them obliquely by the lantern or light 7 medium 14, at the necessarily varying arrgles effective to illuminate the entire translucent surface of each character, and because of the correct optic principleutili'zed the light is caused to be reflected-uniformly over the entire signcomposed of the numbers designated 32. The obliquity -of the mirrors 14, arranged compactly in the block 16 is sufficient for this end and reference to Fig, 1 the arrangement is simply illustrated. Of course, the rays of light emanating from lantern 13 will be directed so as to-fall upon the entire surface of each V-shaped mirror 14, and following the course ofbut asingle ray engaging each part of eachV-shaped mirror it will be noticed that the dotted line a 1 falling upon the guide 7 'is the ray reflected by part 14* of the mirror 14:, in consequence of the ray of light which had'fallen di-' rectly upon the part 14) of said mirror, whose well-known tendency to jump across to part l l at the correct point is thus sub. served the ray immediately being reflected from this point upon one of said interchangeable characters.

The mirrors are disposed tion relatively to the interchangeable slides, as shown in Fig. .1, and owing. to the fact that the reflecting surfaces 14 and 14 of each mirror diverge outwardly toward the slides the rays or beamsof light transmitted by the lamp to said reflecting surfaces, at whatever angle will be reflected in paths or pencils conducting to all of said slides, so that the light may fall uniformly upon the series of alining slides. It is obvious that there-. fleeting surface, 14 or 14 of the endmost mirrors will direct the reflected l'ight'upon more than one of said slides formed by the plates 10 and 11 owing to' the greater divergence of the lamp rays falling upon them, and in consequence a person looking at the end characters of the identification number of an automobile, at any angle with respect to the vehicle will be able to discern them as readily as those which receive the reflected rays frormthe mirrors located clearly and instaggeredrela nearer to the lamp or light medium. It will the opposing faces 14. a'ndl l" of the mirrors so that streams of light may be reflected by said mirrors through. the slides 8. In Fig.

1., the .incident rays emanating from the lamp are designated u, 0,10, m, y, and'z,

and the rays of reflected light are designated v u, v, w, w, y, 5;, respectively, In asimi actors and lamp plates Will cernible.

lar way other rays may be projected upon the effective illuminating surfaces of each slide so that the characters maybe rendered very distinct.

Any number of the V-shaped mirrors may be used in connection with a corresponding number'of translucent sign characters, and the angle of inclination may bevaried but my underlying principle is present wherever the relative positions of the mirrors, charare those herein set forth. The front part 3 of easing A may be opened to enable the motorist to remove some slides should it be necessary to change the identification number, when traversing a foreign state or municipality at night a brilliant light will shine through the slots in the plates 11 and pass through the glass plates 10, so that the number exhibited will be readily discernible even at a distance, while during daylight, the configured slots of said present outlines also easily dis- Numerous modifications within'the scope of the appended claims may be resorted to in practice from the details of construction without departing from the principle herein disclosed. j

l/Vhat I desire to ent is:

1. A device of thejcharacter described comprising a plurality of interchangeable characters, means for supporting said characters in alinement, a plurality of mirrors arrangedin alinement, means for vertically supporting said mirrors on a levelwith said secure by Letters Patcharacters,

said mirrors being disposed in staggered relation with respect to said characters, each mirror comprising two inclined surfaces diverging toward said characters, said surface .being also downwardly and rearwardly inclined and. a single source of light below the level of said characters and mirrors projecting its rays only in the .direction of and against said mirrors.

2. A device of the kind described comprising spaced apart parallel members, translucent-sign portions mounted upon one of said members, a series of mirrors secured at their rear surfaces in contact with the other member on a level with said sign portions, each mirror having its intermediate portion of gradually decreasing thickness from top 'tobottom said intermediate portion formed with faces at an angle to each other, and means below the level of said characters and mirrors for projecting light upon the said mirrors.

3. A mirror consisting of a block having inclined front edges, the front of said block formed with mirror faces converging inwardly from its inclinededges to a substantial median line inclined in the same direction, as the front edges of said block, whereby downwardly inclined reflectors are formed disposed at an angle to each other.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two Witnesses.

WILLIAM HARRIS.

Witnesses:

JOSEPH J. PALLITTA,

Planar J. SCHOTLAND. 

